Why Spurs Can’t Afford Another Quiet January Transfer Window

Alex Ferguson routinely pours scorn over the idea of recruitment at this time of year, but he should know more than most that for every Jean-Alain Boumsongor Ricardo Rocha there’s a Nemanja Vidić or a Patrice Evra out there waiting to be snaffled up…

Levy can spend without any risk –
Buy a top striker and attacking midfielder.
1, We qualify for Champions League and re-coup the outlay. We end up with top striker and midfielder.
2, We don’t qualify for CL, Bale will leave and we re-coup the outlay from transfer. We end up with top striker and midfielder.
Don’t buy and we miss out on CL – Bale will leave, we get a chunk of money, but no one will come to us because we don’t have champions league!

Daniel Levy the thorn in all our sides. No ambition, short arms deep pockets and clueless when it comes to buying players (and selling them coming to that). He just hasn’t got the guts to make that push and get a couple of quality players in and he makes sure he won’t get anyone by leaving all til the last minute. He has already let AVB down by not getting Moutinho and probably Dalmiao. How many more windows is he going to do this? We should be challenging for third and we should have replaced Modric and Rafa. We don’t seem to go after the right type of players and it always seems that we are after midfielders or defenders but never a striker. We have not been in for a striker of real quality since Berbatov left us. Look who he brought in last January, Nelson and Saha. They were good buys weren’t they? Who is he after this time I’m f___ed if I know and not even AVB knows.

yes there are problems at the lane a supporter for 50 years days have gone now when we had greavesee and klingsmen chivers and gilzean what a shame mr levy you want champions league for this you must spend this is the second transfer window without the striker we really need defoe is ok but not great ada is a complete failure as far as goals are concerned and ahigh salary as well go get a striker of good quality or the champions league will collapse bail will go in summer and the circle starts again mr levy make the fans happy get the much needed striker before its to late

I’ll be sure to drop a comment on the Huff later on – props Foxy on another good article, here’s hoping it leads to more opportunities.

In the meanwhile, I’m having a debate/disagreement/full-blown-argument with one of my spurs supporting students: we were talking about our well-established need for one of those guys who does the ball-in-the-net thing, and I suggested (slightly facetiously, as I’m not entirely sure he wouldn’t rather play for a team with more established credentials) Falcao as a possible target. The young pup, with nary a hint of respect for his elder and better, paused for not a moment before sniggering and proclaiming “we can’t afford him”. As I said, I reckon it’d take a lot of convincing talks about long term visions and whatnot, but can’t afford him? Has the world gone mad? Wither our monies from Modric? If AVB signalled to Levy that he wanted only the one big-price player for the next two windows, and would happily play wheeler-dealer/youth-scout-extraordinaire to plug any remaining gaps at a minimal cost, I’m sure we must have the notes down a sofa somewhere to activate that £40-something-million release clause. And he’s worth it, in this market – he’s the only world class, in form striker actually on the market. “Spare me your talk of young Brazillian Peter Crouches,” I told the miscreant, “what’s needed is an honest-to-God, proven master of the art, and Radamel is the only one around.” But what do you gentlefolk think? Naturally, I’ve ensured the boy fails the school-year, but what of Falcao?

Oh, and Feenix, that man with “no ambition” dragged us from mid-table mediocrity to Champions League “there or thereabouts”. He has ambition, he’s just a bit cautious about throwing money after old rope… Although I agree his midfield fetish smells a bit of soccernomics rather than team-building.

Falcao would be the absolute business but I don’t see it happening in this world or the next. He’s most likely the best pure centre-foward in the world at the minute- Cavani, RVP run him close- but there’s no way Levy would spend 35-40 million on a 20-year-old let alone a payer who turns 27 next month. Which is a shame because we’d probably make the money back on successive Champions League qualifications, shirt sales and the 13million Levy is obviously going to somehow make on selling Gomes to Man United.

Rue, I’d love Falcao to declare himself a Spurs man and for DL to make that deal, but of course it won’t happen. And I think the high fee is only part of it. I agree he is the best striker in the world and as such, he will command wages far beyond what we will pay. The Chavs, MC, PSG and the money teams will give him upwards of 150k per week. Let’s say it’s 150k; that’s 7.8 million per year. On a 5-year deal, it’s 39 million for his contract. So you’re looking at investing around 80 million in one player. Sure, he’ll move some shirts and increase our CL chances, but just look at that number: 80 million of your British pounds. Are you trying to kill Daniel?

As for Falcao and other such targets we like to fantasize about, SSG is bang on the hypothetical money. Just repeat this mantra to keep yourself grounded: The fee is not the hold-up. The fee is not the hold-up. The fee is not the hold-up.